Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India

( Original Source : IIT Roorkee Website, Photo Source : Sabudi Prasetyo )

The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) is located in Roorkee, a small township in Uttarakhand, India. Instituted as Thomason college of Civil Engineering in year 1847 by British, it was rechristened as University of Roorkee in year 1949. It is acclaimed for its fine quality of academia and for producing brilliant engineers.
The Institute has completed 150th year of its existence in October 1996. On September 21, 2001, an Ordinance issued by the Government of India declared it as the nation's seventh Indian Institute of Technology. The Ordinance is now converted into an Act by the Parliament to make IIT, Roorkee as an "Institution of National Importance".

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee is among the foremost of institutes of national importance in higher technological education and in basic and applied research. Since its establishment, the Institute has played a vital role in providing the technical manpower and know-how to the country and in pursuit of research. The Institute ranks amongst the best technological institutions in the world and has contributed to all sectors of technological development. It has also been considered a trend-setter in the area of education and research in the field of science, technology, and engineering.

The Institute offers Bachelor's Degree courses in 10 disciplines of Engineering and Architecture and Postgraduate's Degree in 55 disciplines of Engineering, Applied Science, Architecture and planning. The Institute has facility for doctoral work in all Departments and Research Centres.
The Institute admits students to B.Tech. and B.Arch. courses through the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted at various centres all over India.

Department of Water Recources Development and Management

Objective And Achievements

The proposal for establishing a training centre in water resources development originated with the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (now known as ESCAP) some time in 1951-52 and the Centre was actually established at the 'University of Roorkee (Now Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee)' on November25, 1955. The essential equipment was provided under the then U.S. Technical Cooperation Mission and U.N. Technical Assistance Board. The Government of India provided funds for the building and other facilities and agreed to bear the entire recurring expenditure. The USAID, UNDP and ECAFE provided specialists for short-term lecture arrangements.

The choice of opening the Centre naturally fell on India which had the unique distinction of having the biggest network of irrigation works, the largest area under irrigation and the greatest variety of irrigation structures in the East. India also had, after attainment of independence, embarked on an ambitious programme of construction of river valley projects. IIT Roorkee being successor to University of Roorkee which in turn being successor to the Thomason College of Civil Engineering the oldest and best-known technical institution in the East and having the basic infrastructure for imparting such education with Dr. A.N. Khosla as the Vice-Chancellor was selected as the location, and the Centre was set up with Dr. Khosla as the first Director. Roorkee also has the added advantage of the facilities of the U.P. Irrigation Research Institute, the Bengal Engineer Group of the Army Corps of Engineers and the National Institute of Hydrology. The country's oldest canal passes through the town of Roorkee.

Objective And Achievements
The objective of the Centre is to train serving engineers from Asia, Africa and other developing countries in various aspects of water resources engineering and to bring together engineering talent from these countries for a first hand understanding and appreciation of each other's problems and to help evolve, by pooling of knowledge, new techniques in water resources development and utilization suited to conditions of this region. In addition, the programme of education at the Centre helps foster a feeling of brotherhood amongst the engineers of these countries. Since its creation in 1951 the Centre has trained 2032 serving engineers from 38 countries in the field of Water Resources Development and Irrigation Water Management.